Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Checklist for the new pond

I've been rolling through lots of the previous posts, and perhaps I've missed some info but thought I would check...

Currently in Late Fall / Early Winter with the pond going through some freezing and thawing. Water is low and filling as it rains/snows.

We are trying to get the habitat for the fish finished up which should be done in the next couple of days (I hope) before the next rain/snow event changes the clay back to greasy pig conditions.
- Have approx 4' of water in the bottom of the pond currently. Have ordered a LaMotte test kit in but hasn't arrived yet.

Any of you have a checklist for a rookie in the pondmeister world that could be used to keep a new guy from making a booboo early on?

My next step is to start working on the Alkalinity above 75PPM mark and PH between 6.5-8?

Is there any benefit to adding any forage fish to the water currently in winter conditions? Wouldn't really be looking for anything in the way of growth at this point. It would be more about fish/water acclimation than anything.

As a follow up to the forage fish question above. We will be stocking the pond as it rises not when it is full. Should my stocking plan be based off the estimated current water in the pond or what the pond will be when full?

I can relate to the anticipation thing, waiting is hard, I looked for the perfect spot for yrs, along with the price range I wanted to spend, I didn't want to spend so much as to not have any monies left to exploit my dreams, I found a pretty decent place for the right price that let me do my thing, and it took me several yrs to develop what I have now, a beautiful place with a great fishing hole along with other recreation accommodations, with tons more potential.

What is that old saying, "good things come to those who wait"?

As a self employed person, running my own business for a number of yrs, I have learned that you need to, like you said, do some planning for the future, but worrying only adds wrinkles. It will all be perfect in no time. I even added some Channel Catfish in my pond and fed them so that I would have good eating fish to catch sooner, and it worked, I was catching and eating in no time. although now I wouldn't mind if the darn things weren't in there, as I think they are reproducing in my pond, actually I know they are, but I don't think they are hurting anything, might give the otters something to chew on and leave my LMB and BC alone.

Good Luck!

Boondoggle:

Check your water chemistry now and see if you can check a local pond water chemistry to see how close they are to each other. You might be surprised. Adding all the forage fish at once is no big deal, you have less of a bio load on the pond than on an aquarium. Don't add any crays until you get underwater plants established. The plants are part of the pond filter, and part of the forage base. While the fish won't eat the plants per se, they will help create habitat for small organisms that will feed the young fish.

I'll try to cool my jets a little. The spot I didn't/don't want to get into is...."You had all winter to work on this step and now you need to do this step before moving on to the next one."

Where we started on the project was finding a little land that we could build the forever home on. We looked at lots of weird shapes (pie, trapazoids, U's and L's). Some bordered on the railroad tracks, others didn't have slope for a pond or were just such a rats nest of overgrowth that it was a project we didn't want to take on. After finding "our little slice of heaven", purchasing we moved on to the waiting game not only for closing but crops had already been sewn. We allowed the farmer to finish up harvest before starting most of the test holes to confirm we could get the pond in and what the final pricing would look like.

Crops came out in Oct this year and it was pretty much a mad dash to get the pond built (at least for me). Our excavator did a pretty good job overall but his sense of urgency and mine were in a little different zones. The pond did get built, made it pretty much on budget which I am very thankful of.

The waiting is a tough one. This dream has been in the works for years.

I appreciate all the responses and the pointers, even if it's "cool your jets and wait for spring".

Patience:

Ya know, I’ve been cooling my heels for the last couple of years waiting for our long term drought to end. This isn’t my first drought but, ……….

Before the pond fills get all your cover in there for the fish. Rule of thumb is 20% of the surface area should be cover for the fish. So if the pond is 1 ac, then 1/4 ac of cover for the fish. Distributed between shallow and deep water, cover with large openings in it, cover with small openings in it.